Boxoffice Magazine by Pete Hammond

Ultimately an inspiring, stirring and unforgettable human drama in the face of a horrifying war. It is highly recommended.

Variety by Justin Chang

Scene by scene, The Flowers of War is an erratic and ungainly piece of storytelling, full of melodramatic twists and grotesque visual excesses (a bullet pierces first a stained-glass window and then a girl's neck), which are nonetheless delivered with startling conviction.

San Francisco Chronicle by Walter Addiego

Affecting at times, but finally feels overblown and heavy-handed.

Slant Magazine by Andrew Schenker

This film has too many weak, unconnected strands (what's the subplot about the narrator's father doing here anyway?), too much overtly expositional dialogue, and too unfocused a narrative to really cohere. And then there's that whole matter of expendable whores.

Village Voice

With The Flowers of War, Zhang mostly just proves that there's no tragedy too terrible that it can't be turned into an operatic pageant - human suffering reduced to visual showmanship.

Los Angeles Times

Flowers abounds with well-worn movie archetypes and slathers on schmaltz.

New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman

The biggest problem, however, is the way Zhang romanticizes the unimaginably awful, turning gold-hearted prostitutes and virginal orphans into cinematic martyrs. Though his talents are vast, there may be too much truth in this particular story to suit his extravagant tastes.

The New York Times by Mike Hale

Mr. Bale, turning in a respectable if oddly chipper performance under the circumstances, has the unfortunate task of playing a character who doesn't really add up.

Time Out by David Fear

Zhang's mixture of unsparing violence, mawkish sentimentality and garish flourishes creates one uncomfortable aesthetic.

New York Post by V.A. Musetto

Zhang Yimou, one of China's best-known filmmakers, deserves a great big lump of coal in his holiday stocking thanks to his ludicrous soap opera The Flowers of War.